Ryanair has today trimmed its passenger growth target for next year due to Boeing delivery delays, but said weakness in fares was moderating following a poor summer.
Europe's largest low-cost airline cut its passenger target for the year to March 2026 to 210 million passengers from 215 million, confirming plans reported by Reuters earlier this month.
Ryanair's share price had dropped as low as €13.41 in July after the company reported profits almost halved in the three months to the end of June, but recovered on more positive commentary about late summer fares.
The airline, Europe's largest by passenger numbers, reported €1.79 billion in after-tax profit for the six months to the end of September, an 18% fall from last year as average fares fell 10%. That was broadly in line with a company poll of analysts.
But fares in the current third quarter are set to be only "modestly lower" than the same period last year, Group CEO Michael O'Leary said.
"Forward bookings are strong, demand is strong, and the (ticket) price declines appear to be continuing to moderate," he said.
Ryanair's chief financial officer Neil Sorahan said the average fare fall for the third quarter would likely be less than 5%.
Ticket price weakness has been partly due to the impact of high interest rates on consumers and also to the decision by a number of online travel agents to stop selling Ryanair flights in early December following legal and regulatory pressure, Neil Sorahan said.
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The issue with travel agents was "pretty much behind us now" due to new agreements with a majority of them, he added.
Constrained market capacity and lower interest rates will hopefully lead to a more supportive environment for ticket prices next year, Neil Sorahan said.
The cut to passenger forecasts for next year is based on the assumption that Boeing delivers 15 of 29 737 MAX aircraft that were due to arrive by next summer, but "there is a high risk around that number" due to the Boeing strike, he added.
Group CEO Michael O'Leary described the delays as "a pain in the backside".
Boeing shares gained 3.5% on Friday on bets that the planemaker's US West Coast factory workers will approve a new wage offer and end a seven-week strike that has halted jet production and hammered the company's finances.
"While FY25 consensus may drift a little higher, after the recent increase in the share price we suspect the market will initially focus on the lower passenger numbers for FY26 and the implications for net income forecasts," Goodbody analyst Dudley Shanley said in a note, referring to Ryanair's current and next financial years.
The airline today declared an interim dividend of €0.223 per share.
During the six month period, Ryanair said its revenues rose by 1% to €8.69 billion from €8.58 billion, while its operating costs rose by 8% to €6.68 billion from €6.16 billion last year.
Ryanair said it carried a total of 115.3 million passengers, an increase of 9% on the same time last year, while its load factor - how many seats it fills on each flight - stood at 95%.
Average fares in the six month period slipped by 10% to €52 from €58.
Meanwhile, Ryanair said its passenger numbers rose by 7% to 18.3 million in October from 17.1 million the same month last year,
Its load factor - how many seats it fills on each flight - for the month was unchanged at 93%.
Ryanair said it operated over 103,200 flights during October.
